The Presidency says that some traditional rulers in the home state of President Buhari are responsible for the banditry activities going on in the state.
The Senior Special Assistance on Media and Publicity to Mr. President, Garba Shehu, stated this on Channel television’s Sunrise Daily program today.
Shehu said, “It is not that we are making a direct accusation on anyone, but it is true that even in the president Native state of Kastina, some traditional rules have been fingered in collaboration with the bandits to harm their own people.
He added, in neighboring Zamfara state, Emirs and District Heads, quite a number of them have been swept out of office.
The thing is that they are beneficiaries of whatever rotten system you have.”
The President Spokesperson revealed that during the height of violent conflicts in Zamfara state, the Nigerian Air Force stationed aircraft in Katsina Airport from where they could lunch attack against bandits in Zamfara.
He explained once the Air Craft takes-off, some unpatriotic elements in Kastina would quickly inform the bandits in Zamfara state that an attack was imminent, cautioning them to take cover before it is too late.
Shehu added that “At some point, the Nigeria Air Force had to put a plate number on Air Craft in Kastina, they are still there.
In an early part of that operation, Zamfara state was then the epicenter.
He said that because of their activities such that once “They realized Air Craft took off from Kastina airport before it gets to Zamfara for operation, telephone calls would have been made and targets would have disappeared.
In the end, the aircraft had to start taking off from far distances like Kano and Kaduna.
According to him, some people see President Buhari as a magician and have all the solutions to Nigeria’s problem, but this is not true he said, as Nigerians, we all have a duty of responsibility to provide important information of security value to security men.
Kastina state has recently come under a series of attacks from bandits which have led the resident into a protest against the government.
Last week, billboards bearing the pictures of Mr. President were set ablaze by locals in protest, accusing the president of failing to protect them.